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Community grants help to preserve nation's heritage - 2008

Community grants help to preserve nation's heritage - 2008

11 November 2008

Community groups across the country will have a greater capacity to preserve Australia’s heritage following the announcement of the 2008 Community Heritage Grants.

Grants worth $366 800 are going to 70 community groups and organisations in 2008.

The groups include museums, libraries, archives, historical societies, art galleries, migrant, Indigenous and religious organisations. Each will receive funds to assist in the preservation of community owned but nationally significant heritage collections.

In addition, recipients attend a three-day intensive preservation and collection management workshop held at the National Library, the National Archives of Australia, the National Museum of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.

National Library Director-General Jan Fullerton said the Community Heritage Grants program showed the commitment by the National Library, along with its partner institutions and the Federal Government, in encouraging communities to care for the nation’s heritage, be it in small country towns or capital cities.

“It is all about working together to help spread the message that if we don’t preserve our history now, it could be lost forever,” she said.

“Through sharing this knowledge, the information can be taken back to the communities where it is most needed to ensure that local heritage collections are still there for future generations.”

The grant money is used for significance assessments, preservation needs assessments, conservation treatments, training workshops, digitisation and purchasing archival-quality storage materials or environmental monitoring equipment. The Community Heritage Grants Program is managed by the National Library. It is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts; the National Archives of Australia; the National Film and Sound Archive; the National Museum of Australia and the National Library.

The National Trust of Australia (ACT) received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the Ken Tutty Collection. This collection consists of photographs of original working drawings and architectural plans of Canberra's major government buildings, including the Institute of Anatomy, Australian War Memorial, the National Library, Albert Hall and Old Parliament House. There are also negatives of other regions of Australia, India and New Guinea.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Lockhart & District Historical Society received $5 000 for a preservation needs assessment of the Brookong Collection. Brookong Station was settled in the 1840s and the collection includes original photographs, documents and metrological records, and material concerning the 1888 shearers’ strike.

New South Wales Lancers Memorial Museum Incorporated received $4 400 for a significance assessment of the collection. The 1/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers is the Australian Army's oldest surviving regiment, with links to the military volunteers of the 1870s. A collection highlight includes the personal diary, scrapbook and photo album of Major Lee, who commanded the second half squadron of Lancers who departed Sydney accompanied by Banjo Paterson as war correspondent. Lee's diary contains Paterson poems of the time, dated before their official publication dates and variously signed “AB Paterson”.

Uralla Historical Society received $7 260 for a preservation needs assessment of the McCrossin's Mill Museum Chinese Collection and a training workshop in preventative conservation. The Chinese Collection contains objects relating to the history of the Chinese on the Rocky River goldfields in the 1850s. Many items are of rare cultural and religious significance, including joss house relics.

Australian Tennis Museum received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the Australian Tennis Museum's clothing collection. The collection holds items worn by many Australian and international tennis players including Ken Rosewall, Margaret Smith-Court, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Todd Woodbridge, Mark Woodforde, Lleyton Hewitt, Maria Bueno, Jennifer Capriati, Karen Krantzcke, John Newcombe and Chris Evert.

Rookwood Anglican and General Cemetery Trusts received $4 000 for a contribution towards conservation and preservation of the Burial Records Collection 1867-2006. The Rookwood Necropolis was founded in response to Sydney outgrowing its first two cemeteries, located where Sydney Town Hall and Central Railway Station now stand. Rookwood’s first burial took place in 1867 and is still a working cemetery. It is the largest cemetery in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest in the world.

The Oaks Historical Society Inc received $4 400 for a preservation needs assessment of the collection. The collection includes artefacts and documents relating to local history such as industry – timber getting, mining, orcharding and poultry farms, education, farming, and local military history represented from the Boer War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam and on the home front. The Oaks Historical Society was formed in 1979 to research the history of The Oaks and the Burragorang Valley which was flooded by Warragamba Dam.

Millthorpe & District Historical Society Inc received $13 000 for a mobile storage unit and archival materials for the Golden Memories Museum. The social history resources include the J.H.A. Lister collection, which marks the discovery of the first payable gold, by Lister and his brother Tom in 1851. The Sixth Light Horse Regiment Millthorpe Troop is described through photographs, medals and tokens, ephemera, uniform accessories and personal equipment.

The Croatian Archive Association of Australia Inc received $4 400 for a significance assessment of the collection. The association was formed in 2005 at the Croatian Club in Punchbowl, in order to preserve the history of Croatians in Australia. The Association is working closely with community, collecting material relating to the lives and achievements of Croatians in Australia and making it available for research and exhibitions. The collection includes correspondence, minute books, souvenir booklets, sporting programs and photographs.

Port Macquarie Historical Society Inc received $5 500 for a significance assessment of the collection. Significant items in the Society’s collection include Aboriginal artefacts original Lionel Lindsay watercolours c1916-1920, convict relics c1840s from the Port Macquarie Penal Settlement, books from the library of Major Archibald Clunes Innes, Commandant of the Port Macquarie Penal Settlement from November 1826 to April 1827 and an extensive costume and textile collection.

Lake Macquarie City Library received $4 000 for a preservation needs assessment of the Coal and Power Collection. The collection consists of a wide range of plans and diagrams relating to coal mining and electricity generation in the region. The mining collection contains approximately 6 800 documents and the power station collection contains approximately 5 000.

Aquarian Archive Inc received $4 950 for a preservation needs assessment of the collection. The collection contains research records and artefacts relating to the New Settler and Intentional Communities movements in the Northern Rivers region of NSW since 1973 after the Aquarius Festival. The festival introduced alternative living styles to the wider Australian community, ranging from care of the environment, alternative energy sources, low cost housing, and the development of communes, or intentional communities, which explored organic food production, produced their own styles of fashion and practised alternative medicine.

Bathurst Regional Council received $3 500 for a preservation training workshop for staff and volunteers of various organisations in the Bathurst region. The collections involved in this workshop include the School of Arts Collection, the Bathurst Family History Society Collection, the Chifley Home (home of former Prime Minister Ben Chifley), Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum and the National Motor Racing Museum.

The Scout Association of Australia NSW Branch received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the collection. The collection contains artefacts dating back to the foundation of Scouting in Australia in 1908, including uniforms, flags, plaques, banners, photographs, film reels, audio tapes and glass negatives from the early 1900s. Significant collection items include a Changi Rover Scout Scarf from World War II; a trophy shield presented by Dr J.J. Bradfield, chief engineer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in 1932 and a photograph album from the 1920s which includes some photographs of Scouts taken with Australian artist Norman Lindsay in the grounds of his Faulconbridge estate.

Nutcote Trust Pty Limited received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the collection. 'Nutcote' was the home of the prominent Australian children's author and illustrator, May Gibbs (1877-1969). May Gibbs was Australia’s first professional female illustrator. Many of her postcards were sent to troops serving in World War I but she is best known for her 1918 book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. This collection includes early 20th century Gibbs postcards, early publications including first editions, late 19th and early 20th century original photographs, original May Gibbs' furniture and small original artworks by Herbert Gibbs, BJ Waterhouse and others.

Blue Mountains Historical Society Inc received $4 730 for a significance assessment of the collection. The society’s collection contains manuscripts, records, photographs and relics that record the history of the Blue Mountains and surrounding areas. Significant events recorded in the collection include the establishment of hospitals and sanitoriums for the treatment of tuberculosis, the evacuation of Sydney residents and private schools to the Blue Mountains during World War II and the employment of many local residents in the Lithgow Small Arms Factory.

The Rabbi Falk Memorial Library, Great Synagogue Sydney received $4 000 for a preservation needs assessment of the books and serials in the Rabbi Falk Memorial Library. The library is owned by the Great Synagogue, the oldest continuing Jewish congregation in Australia. The collection contains several works held nowhere else in Australasia, including over 200 old and rare books, some dating from the early 16th century.

Randwick City Library and Information Service and Randwick and District Historical Society Inc received $8 000 for significance assessments of the Randwick City Library and Randwick and District Historical Society collections. The Randwick City Library local history collection includes books and newspapers relating to the historical and contemporary life of the City of Randwick, and original photographs and city and community archives. The Historical Society archive contains photographs, documents, oral history tapes and objects linked to Randwick. The City Library and Information Service is one of the largest in metropolitan Sydney. The Historical Society Inc. collects, promotes and preserves the history of Randwick.

Hellenic Historical and Cultural Centre NSW received $4 000 for a preservation needs assessment of the collection. The Hellenic Historical and Cultural Centre provides a resource for all Australian Greek communities, with a collection containing costumes and textiles, a shadow theatre artefacts, ecclesiastical artefacts, photographs, printed materials and wedding artefacts.

Lithgow City Council received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the Lithgow City Council Textiles Collection. The collection contains more than 2 000 pieces produced or associated with the Lithgow Valley Pottery, a Suttons Crazy Patchwork Quilt dating from 1893, the Lithgow Woollen Mills Collection, the Sir Joseph Cook collection, the Eskbank Ironworks Blast Furnace Collection, a fully restored hansom cab, wooden sulkies (circa.1900), and 1500 pieces donated by the community of Lithgow.

Forbes and District Historical Society Museum received $4 950 for a preservation needs assessment of the collection. The collection contains many items relating to the gold rush, French migrants and their wine making endeavours in the region, the Italian and Chinese influence in the area and bushrangers, namely Ben Hall and the Gardiner Gang. Ben Hall was shot by the troopers at Forbes and is buried in the Forbes Cemetery.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Northern Territory Library received $7 000 for training in handling, housing, preserving and exhibiting paper and photographic materials. The photographic collection provides a pictorial record of the geographical, historical and social development of life in the Northern Territory. It is the major public reference and research library in the Territory.

Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association received $4 500 for a significance assessment of the Tiwi Art Collection in the Mulwurri Museum. Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association is an Indigenous-owned, non-profit organisation based at Milikapiti, a remote Aboriginal community on Melville Island. It operates as an art centre and currently supports up to 60 artists. The Mulwurri Museum was established as a ‘keeping place’ for the Milikapiti community containing various works including photographs, carvings, artefacts and contemporary prints and paintings, some of which record techniques and elements of ceremony that have changed or are no longer used by the Tiwi people.

PAW Media and Communications received $5 000 for a significance assessment of the Warlpiri Media Archive. Warlpiri Media started at Yuendumu in 1983 and established the first Aboriginal TV station in Australia. The collection covers the areas of arts and crafts, community interviews, community meetings, country visits, documentary and news, education and language, health, land management and land rights, music concerts, oral histories, sport events, traditional dancing and Jukurrpa (law), traditional songs and Jukurrpa visits. The collection provides a continuous documentation of the community history of Yuendumu and the cultural activities of the Warlpiri people of Central Australia.

QUEENSLAND

Gold Coast and Hinterland Historical Society Inc received $3 900 for a collection management training workshop. The collection includes photographs, postcards, clothing, household items and musical instruments. It is anticipated that the training workshop will involve participants from 12 other heritage organisations in the Gold Coast region.

Cairns and District Chinese Association Inc received $8 030 for the preservation of significant cast metal objects in the CADCAI collection. CADCAI was formed in 1978 as a community group to support the new migrants and Australian Chinese families in Cairns and region. The Lit Sung Goong Collection contains just over 240 artefacts which came out of the Cairns Lit Sung Goong temple. The majority of the artefacts were made in Southern China and brought to Cairns in the late 19th century. This project will allow CADCAI to employ a metals conservator to repair 11 significant cast metal objects in the Lit Sung Goong Collection.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs received $5 500 for materials for repacking and relocation and three data loggers. AAOD currently displays the most comprehensive collection of Australia’s dinosaur-aged fossils and through its field laboratory oversees the largest scale preparation of these fossils ever attempted in Australia. Currently there are over 550 specimens accessioned into the AAOD Collection, including dinosaur, plant, reptile and marine invertebrate fossils from the Mesozoic as well as Pleistocene mammal and reptile fossils and meteorites.

Rockhampton Regional Council received $4 900 for a significance assessment of the special collections of the council. The special collections contain many archives, photographs and artefacts unique to central Queensland including: correspondence files that show the impact of the shearers' strikes, both World Wars and the Depression on northern Queenslanders; the Rockhampton Jockey Club - Hall of Fame collection; business records of the Lakes Creek Meatworks (1868-1995), once a major central Queensland employer and collections from prominent local people such as Glenn Cousins – an early central Queensland aviator.

North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum Association Inc received $4 500 for a significance assessment of the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum collection. The museum collection reflects the social history of an area which was a key site in the early settlement of Brisbane and Queensland, as well as a strategic site in Australian coastal protection during World War II. The museum also stores the Oodgeroo/Kath Walker collection on behalf of her family. Kath Walker was a poet, artist, writer, Aboriginal spokesperson, performer, activist and educator and the first published Indigenous poet in Australia.

Mater Archives and Heritage Centre received $3 400 for archival storage materials and training in paper preservation. Established in 1987, the centre was set up to preserve and manage historical material of the Mater Hospitals, the first of which was established in Brisbane in 1906. The collection relates to the establishment of the Mercy Order in Brisbane in 1861 and the Mater Hospitals.

National Trust of Queensland - James Cook Museum, Cooktown received $12 850 for a significance assessment and preservation needs assessment of the artefacts at James Cook Museum. The collections of the James Cook Museum, Cooktown are associated with the heritage and history of far north Queensland. The museum holds Indigenous heritage collections, significant artefacts dating from James Cook's sojourn in the region (a canon and an anchor from the Endeavour) and items relating to the Chinese occupation of northern Australia.

Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council received $7 500 for preservation and collection management training. The Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council manages the Menmuny Museum. The museum’s extensive and unique collection of photographs of Yarrabah provides a view of the various stages of the community’s development including traditional culture and mission days, dormitory experiences and State and Local Government administration.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

South Australian Police Historical Society Inc received $9 680 for a preservation needs assessment of the South Australian Police Historical Society collection and archival storage materials. The collection contains about 69 000 records and over 21 000 photographs concerning the spread of policing throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory. The South Australian Police Force is the oldest centrally controlled, state-wide police force in Australia.

Holdfast Bay History Centre, City of Holdfast Bay Council received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the Holdfast Bay historic collection. The Province of South Australia was proclaimed in Glenelg on 28 December 1836 and was the site of the first settlement on mainland South Australia. The collection illustrates how the State of South Australia changed, the area’s involvement in governance of the colony and also its involvement in the Federation of the colonies of Australia.

Barossa Vintage Festival / Barossa Wine and Tourism received $3 400 for a significance assessment of the collection. The Barossa Vintage Festival is the oldest and longest running wine festival in Australia. The collection includes photos, minutes, posters and programmes, many of which feature prominent, identities within the Australian wine industry such as Colin Gramp (Orlando Wines), Bill Seppelt (Seppelt Wines), Grant Burge (Grant Burge Wines) and Peter Lehmann (Peter Lehmann Wines).

Royal South Australian Society of Arts Inc. received $4 400 for a significance assessment of the collection. The Royal South Australian Society of Arts commenced in 1856 as the South Australian Society of Arts and has supported artists for 152 years through Members Exhibitions and Federal Exhibitions in the late 1800s and into the 1920s. In the early years of the colony, the society played an important role in the development of culture and was an instigator of the present Art Gallery of South Australia.

Port Augusta School of the Air - Open Access College received $5 200 for a significance assessment of the collection. Port Augusta School of the Air was established in 1958, the first School of the Air in South Australia and the third such school in Australia. The collection contains photographs and school journals dating from 1958; recordings of school lessons, including the first lesson; documentary audio visual material; examples of pedal radio equipment; telephones and HF radio equipment.

Women's Studies Resource Centre SA Inc. received $2 260 for the reformatting of material from the Women's Liberation Movement Archives. The Archives was established in 1984 and contains material associated with Women’s Liberation, such as the Women’s Art Movement, the Feminist Theatre group, the Women’s Community Health Centre and women’s peace groups. The collection includes posters and other graphic material, badges and banners, video and audio tapes as well as manuscripts and published material.

The City of Prospect received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the collection. The Province of South Australia was proclaimed in 1836 and the first grants of land were issued in Prospect in 1838. This collection includes oral histories relating to R M Williams who owned his first factory in Prospect; diaries and letters of local soldiers held in prisoner of war camps and various documents relating to the early history of Prospect and South Australia.

National Railway Museum received $3 750 for archival storage materials. The museum owns a significant collection of artefacts and archival material relating to the railway history of Australia. In particular the collection focuses on the railway operations of the Commonwealth of Australia, the North Australia Railway, and the South Australian Railways. Represented in the Commonwealth Railways collection are the histories of the train lines that carried the TransAustralian, the Indian Pacific and the Ghan.

National Trust of South Australia received $4 000 for archival storage materials to rehouse the National Trust's Historic Buildings Register. The Trust operates 120 properties including 90 museums. The Historic Buildings Register was established in 1961 and closed in 1990 and was the first systematic attempt to list historic buildings to be protected in South Australia.

Royal Geographical Society of South Australia Inc received $4 400 for a significance assessment of the York Gate Library and Gill Library collections. The society was founded in Adelaide in 1885 and in its early years, assisted in the exploration of Australia. In 1905 the society acquired the York Gate Geographical and Colonial Library, which had been created over several decades by a London merchant, Stephen William Silver. The collections include information on what Australia looked like on first European settlement, descriptions of the topography, vegetation and climate, and Aboriginal languages, as well as maps of early exploration. The York Gate Library includes unique manuscripts such as Sir Joseph Banks' journals of his voyage to Newfoundland and Iceland (1766).

Gawler Public Library received $4 200 for a significance assessment of the Gawler Heritage Collection. Gawler was the first South Australian country town and played a pivotal role in the development of the mid-north, the Barossa and the river by being on the axis of transport and communication routes for these regions. The Heritage Collection contains a wealth of material (estimated to be in excess of 600 items) entrusted to the town of Gawler on behalf of the community.

TASMANIA

St Helens History and Visitor Information Centre received $4 400 for a significance assessment of the collection. The centre contains a wide collection of archives and artefacts relating to the early pioneers, gold mining and Chinese settlements, shipping, agriculture and domestic life.

Friends of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Inc received $3 850 for a plan cabinet and mylar sleeves. The collection contains books dating from early 1800s to 1920s and maps dating back to 1856. Some of the books are rare and are in poor condition. They include general gardening books and floras.

West Coast Heritage Limited received $4 500 for a significance assessment of the material in the Mt Lyell Mining office. The Mt Lyell Mining Office collection is held within late 19th century buildings and includes the Mt Lyell Company archive and material relating to Robert Carl Sticht, the first mining manager. The 101 year history of the Mt Lyell Railway and Mining Company represents the continued strength and eventual demise of the mineral and mining boom which took place in this country from the late 19th century.

The Australian Script Centre received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the collection. The Australian Script Centre holds one of only two collections of unpublished Australian plays dating back to the 1970s and is the only collection that is made widely accessible to the public. Playwrights throughout Australia have registered their plays with the ASC for 30 years, providing an important cultural resource that records the development and diversity of Australian writing for performance.

VICTORIA

Red Cliffs/Irymple RSL Military Museum received $4 500 for a significance assessment of the collection. Red Cliffs R.S.L. was established in 1925 in a soldier settlement area. The collection includes a number of primary sources such as World War I diaries and postcards, original paper, linen and silk maps and flags from locations such as Singapore’s Changi Prison, German prisoner of war camps, the Middle East and New Guinea. There is a cloth signed by prisoners in Changi Prison including Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop.

The Women's Art Register received $4 400 for a significance assessment of the collection. The Women's Art Register documents the work of Australian women artists dating from 1840 to the present by archiving written articles, photographs, transparency slides, compact discs, documents and ephemera of their artistic endeavours. Artists represented in the collection include Dorrit Black, Stella Bowen, Elizabeth Gower and Carmel O'Connor.

Nepean Historical Society Inc received $4 950 for a significance assessment of the collection. In 1803 the first European settlement of Victoria took place at Settler's Cove, Sorrento. The settlement was abandoned due to a lack of fresh water. The museum holds one of the original wooden barrels used to filter water from the beach – one of more than 5,000 items that provide a unique insight into the development and history of Sorrento and Portsea.

Polish Museum and Archives in Australia received $4 400 for a significance assessment of the collection. The collection contains 60 continuous metres of archival materials that reflect Polish community life in Australia dating back to 1910 and representing organisations based in Victoria, NSW, SA, WA, Queensland, Tasmania and New Zealand. Notable collection items include documents from the collection of the Polish Rats of Tobruk in Hobart and oral histories of Polish elderly migrants about their experiences during World War II and life in Australia.

Christ Church (Anglican) Geelong received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the collection. Christ Church, Geelong, is the oldest Anglican Church in continuous use on its original site in Victoria. Subsequently, Christ Church archives provides a unique record of the early development of the social, cultural and community life in Geelong and Melbourne, with baptismal, marriage and death (including burial) records that predate those of the Melbourne Diocese.

Lord Somers Camp and Power House received $1 800 for training in archival documentation. In 1929, Lord Somers, the Governor of Victoria, initiated a one week camp for 16 year old boys to develop tolerance, teamwork and promote a better understanding between diverse sections of the community. Camps for girls commenced in 1986 and now the organisation conducts a range of personal development and leadership programs for young people from a diverse range of backgrounds including the disadvantaged and the disabled.

Briagolong Mechanics' Institute Committee of Management Inc received $1 800 for preservation and disaster planning workshops. The Briagolong Mechanics' Institute was built in 1874 and is believed to be the oldest continually operating Mechanics' Institute building in Gippsland. The library has been recognised as the most complete example of an early Mechanics' Institute library in the state of Victoria.

National Vietnam Veterans Museum received $4 800 for a significance assessment of the collection. The museum collection consists of over 27 000 items including artefacts, photographs, books, models, memorabilia, weapons, vehicles and aircraft and is the only museum in Australia dedicated solely to the period of the Vietnam War.

Merri Creek Management Committee Inc received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the committee archives. In the 1970s a range of environmental action groups along the Merri Creek joined with local councils to form the Merri Creek Coordination Committee, which later established the MCMC. The photographic collection documents the emergence and ongoing activity of one of the first major urban waterway restoration projects in Australia and Merri Creek has become a widely quoted example of good practice in urban waterway restoration.

Villa Alba Museum Inc received $4 000 for a preservation needs assessment of the collection. The Villa Alba Museum has two major collections: the general collection and the Cardamone collection. The Cardamone collection consists of over 40,000 samples of wallpaper and fabric sample books amassed over the last quarter of the 20th century by a Melbourne interior decorator and is a unique comprehensive summary of furnishings offered to the Australian public in that period.

La Mama Inc received $3 600 for a preservation needs assessment of the collection. This includes posters, prints, flyers, photographs and audiovisual materials which record the development of Australian theatre and artists. The La Mama Theatre was formed in Carlton in 1967 for the creation of Australian and experimental works.

Fire Service Museum of Victoria Inc received $4 400 for a preservation needs assessment of the collection. The Fire Services Museum of Victoria collection comprises items from pre-1891 brigades and contains in excess of 13,000 items. These items include: fire fighting vehicles aged from the 1830’s through to 1993; original hand written records of the Insurance Companies Brigade (Insurance Brigade) and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Board (MFB); artworks; uniforms and protective equipment; fire extinguishers and tools and audio visual items. The collection represents the profession of fire fighting in the 19th and first half of the 20th century.

Koori Resource & Information Centre Inc received $4 500 for a significance assessment of the collection. The Koori Resource and Information Centre (KRIC) was established in 1988 to provide information and support to a range of local Koori organisations and programs that shared a common vision. The collection comprises magazines, books, audio visual materials, media files, archives and photographs relating to political, sporting, community and health matters.

Wonthaggi and District Historical Society received $4 840 for a significance assessment of the collection. The collection contains oral histories, photographs, newspapers, maps, books and Indigenous artefacts. Represented in the collection is the history of the State Coal Mine, the Wonthaggi Coalminers' Union and the Wonthaggi State Model Town Project.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

RAAF Association Aviation Heritage Museum of Western Australia received $4 000 for a significance assessment of the collection. The Museum contains over 6000 objects, including 29 aircraft; 38 000 photographs; 8000 books and 50 000 magazines. Included in the collection is a complete Lancaster aircraft and a Wackett aircraft (built by Australian aircraft designer Laurence Wackett). The museum also houses a Catalina Flying boat, artefacts from Australian prisoners of war and artefacts belonging to Amy Johnson, the first woman pilot to fly solo from England to Australia. Charles Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith are also represented in the collection.

City of Wanneroo received $4 100 for training in preservation and collection management. The City of Wanneroo is currently constructing a new museum which will be opened in 2009. Its collection includes artefacts such as a campaign chest brought to Western Australia in 1829; a 'buka' (an Aboriginal kangaroo skin cloak) believed to be one of only two in West Australian museums; 1890s clothing; farm machinery and photographs.

Wyndham Historical Society (Incorporated) received $6 800 for a significance assessment of the Wyndham Historical Museum collection. Wyndham is the most northern town and port in Western Australia and as such was pivotal in the opening up of the Kimberley region in the late 1800's. The museum houses artefacts relating to exploration; pioneers and pastoral stations; meatworks (1919 - 1985); aviation and shipping; World War II bombings; Chinese and Indigenous history.

Eastern Goldfields Historical Society Inc received $14 300 for archival materials, a disaster bin and a security/fire detection system. The collection has a focus on Kalgoorlie-Boulder, but also covers the sites of many of the early gold rushes in Western Australia, including Coolgardie, Kambalda, Leonora-Gwalia, Laverton, Norseman, Leinster, Wiluna, Menzies and Sandstone. The society boasts one of Australia’s largest collections of historic West Australian goldfields photographs and holds a comprehensive selection of books on the goldfields and Western Australia

Claremont Museum received $8 000 for a significance assessment and preservation needs assessment of the Claremont Museum collection. Collection items of note include the Mews Boat Shed Collection, which has links to the Broome pearling industry and the Fremantle whaling industry; material relating to Sir Paul Hasluck (1905-1993), journalist, diplomat and Governor-General of Australia and Dame Alexandra Hasluck, author and past National President of the Girl Guides Association and Australian Red Cross. This project will inform the museum’s planning for a new collection storage facility.